Merck To Cut Jobs At N.J. Facilities, Company Says

Rahway, NJ — Merck is cutting lab research jobs at three of its sites, including two New Jersey locations, the pharmaceutical company announced Tuesday.

Jobs at the Rahway and Kenilworth locations will be impacted. Cuts are also planned at the site in North Wales, Pennsylvania.

The job cuts make up "less than 10 percent" of the company's discovery, pre-clinical and early development group of roughly 3,600 employees, Merck spokeswoman Lainie Keller told Patch. That 360 also includes some employees who will be moved to other sites, she said.

Merck is closing its North Wales facility, but the Rahway and Kenilworth sites will stay open. Merck is headquartered in Kenilworth.

The move comes as Merck is shifting from its long-established research facilities in industrial areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania to newer hubs of emerging biomedical research near Boston and San Francisco.

Merck "is increasing our investment in exploratory biology in areas where biomedical research is converging, specifically in Cambridge, Massachusetts (home to Harvard University, where Merck has facilities) and the San Francisco Bay area," Keller told Philly.com.

"Unfortunately, these changes will result in workforce reductions" at the company's North Wales drug-screening facility and the New Jersey sites "as we shift resources and personnel."